Architects and Engineers Professional Indemnity Insurance — Endorsement

Application

This endorsement attaches to and forms part of the Meridian Professional Indemnity Insurance wording, version 1.5.0-DRAFT (document reference 2026/PI/0001), referred to here as the base wording. It changes the base wording only as set out below. All other terms, conditions, exclusions and limits of the base wording continue to apply.

Words defined in the base wording have the same meaning in this endorsement. Where this endorsement and the base wording conflict, this endorsement applies to the extent of the conflict.

The same terms are published as a single integrated wording, Architects and Engineers Professional Indemnity Insurance, version 1.2.0-DRAFT. Both documents are generated from the same source and have the same effect.

Replaced: Professional services

The definition of Professional services in the base wording is deleted and replaced with the following.

Professional services

The following services provided to a third party for a fee:

(a) architecture;

(b) town planning;

(c) landscape design;

(d) interior design;

(e) drafting;

(f) quantity surveying, including the preparation of tax depreciation schedules;

(g) cadastral, land and engineering surveying;

(h) civil engineering;

(i) structural engineering;

(j) mechanical engineering;

(k) electrical engineering;

(l) project management; and

(m) any other service shown in the schedule as a professional service.

A service in (a) to (l) is a professional service only if it is provided by, or under the direct control and supervision of, a person who holds a tertiary or vocational qualification in the discipline concerned. For drafting in (e), the qualification may be in drafting, architecture, engineering or surveying. For project management in (l), the qualification may be in project management, architecture, engineering, surveying or quantity surveying. For a service in (m), the schedule states any qualification required.

Tax depreciation schedules in (f) are also subject to the Licences, Registrations and Accreditations condition.

[WP REVIEW: confirm whether the Tax Practitioners Board insurance requirement applies to quantity surveyors who prepare tax depreciation schedules.]

Added: Registered Designs and Plagiarism

The following extension is added to the base wording, after the Subcontractors and Outsourcers extension.

Registered Designs and Plagiarism

The cover under the Claims Against You clause includes your liability for any actual or alleged unintentional infringement of a registered design, or plagiarism, in the course of providing your professional services.

This extension does not cover infringement of a patent: see the Patent Infringement exclusion.

Added: NSW Registered Practitioners

The following extension is added to the base wording, after the Registered Designs and Plagiarism extension.

NSW Registered Practitioners

This extension applies to you, or to any insured person, who is registered under the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (NSW) as a design practitioner, principal design practitioner or professional engineer.

For a claim arising from work that the Act requires you to be registered to carry out, the retroactive date is the date you were first registered under that Act, if that date is earlier than the retroactive date shown in the schedule. That date applies to the claim in place of the date shown in the schedule, as the definition of the definition of Retroactive date provides.

This extension does not affect the Prior Known Circumstances exclusion.

[WP REVIEW: confirm whether the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (NSW) regime permits a prior-knowledge exclusion to apply to cover from first registration.]

Added: Construction Work

The following exclusion is added to the base wording, after the Products exclusion.

Construction Work

Arising from physical construction, installation, fabrication or demolition work carried out by you or on your behalf, or from defects in raw materials or goods you supplied.

This exclusion does not apply to design, contract administration, site inspection, site observation or certification services that you provide as part of your professional services.

Added: Patent Infringement

The following exclusion is added to the base wording, after the Construction Work exclusion.

Patent Infringement

Arising from any actual or alleged infringement of a patent.

Added: Project Management Activities

The following exclusion is added to the base wording, after the Patent Infringement exclusion.

Project Management Activities

Arising from your project management services, to the extent the claim arises from:

(a) a failure to arrange or maintain insurance, or performance or other bonds;

(b) a failure to obtain finance;

(c) financial, insurance or tax advice;

(d) the insolvency of any party to the project;

(e) construction costs exceeding any estimate, unless the estimate was prepared by a qualified quantity surveyor; or

(f) bodily injury to an employee of any party arising out of their employment, unless the injury arises directly from an error in a design covered by this policy.

Added: Liquidated Damages and Contractual Penalties

The following exclusion is added to the base wording, after the Contractual Liability exclusion.

Liquidated Damages and Contractual Penalties

For any liquidated damages, or any penalty payable under a contract, except to the extent that you would have been liable for the amount in the absence of the contract.

Added: Excluded Engineering Activities

The following exclusion is added to the base wording, after the Non-Compensatory Payments exclusion.

Excluded Engineering Activities

Arising from:

(a) the design or construction of dams more than the height shown in the schedule for this purpose (or 6 metres if no height is shown);

(b) geological estimates prepared for a prospectus or other disclosure document;

(c) mineral extraction;

(d) oil and gas services;

(e) marine surveys;

(f) nuclear engineering;

(g) chemical engineering; or

(h) pre-purchase building inspections.

Architects and Engineers Endorsements

The following endorsements apply to this policy only when the schedule shows that they apply.

An endorsement does not apply to the extent that a law or Ministerial Order requiring you to hold this insurance does not permit the cover it removes to be excluded.

Bridges and Tunnels Exclusion

We do not cover any claim, loss or liability arising from the design or construction of a bridge or tunnel, or any part of one.

Combustible Cladding Exclusion

We do not cover any claim, loss or liability arising from the use, or proposed use, in a building of external wall cladding that is combustible or that does not comply with the National Construction Code, including aluminium composite panels with a polyethylene core and expanded polystyrene products. This applies to any design, specification, selection, certification, inspection or approval of that cladding, and to any advice about it.

Mining Equipment Warranties Exclusion

We do not cover any claim, loss or liability arising from any express or implied warranty or guarantee of the safety or performance of mining equipment.

Run-off for Cadastral Surveys

If you permanently cease to practise during the policy period, and this endorsement is shown in the schedule, the Run-Off Cover extension continues for claims arising from cadastral or boundary surveys for the period shown in the schedule for this endorsement, of up to 10 years after the end of the policy period, on payment of the premium shown in the schedule.

All other terms of this policy, including the limit of liability, continue to apply to those claims.

Tax Depreciation Schedules

Tax depreciation schedules are professional services under this policy only if they are prepared by, or under the direct control and supervision of, the person or entity whose Tax Practitioners Board registration number is shown in the schedule, where that registration is required by law.

We do not cover any claim for a tax shortfall penalty or general interest charge imposed on your client, except to the extent that your client is legally entitled to recover it from you as compensation for your negligence.

Hydrographic Surveys Exclusion

We do not cover any claim, loss or liability arising from a hydrographic survey, or any survey of the bed of the sea, a harbour, a river or another body of water.